Category: Uncategorized

Rumor: Windows Phone Mango

by Justin Alcon

Although the fine folks over at Boy Genius Report (where I first heard this rumor) believe that it is a stretch at best, Paul at Windows Phone Secrets reports that he has glimpsed Microsoft’s upcoming “Mango” update for Windows Phone 7. During a video walk through of a NoDo update. Around 2 minutes and 48 seconds into the video, the cameraman pans to a second Windows Phone 7 device for a few seconds. This second phone has a feature never seen in current builds of Microsoft’s mobile operating system: Inside the main menu, there’s a clearly visible search button.

Is this Mango? My sources are not sure, and neither am I, but we do know that it’s an option that’s not currently available in the latest NoDo update.So Microsoft either has another minor update in store, or someone spotted Mango. Microsoft is expected to launch Mango later this year, and it should include Internet Explorer 9, the faster Trident 5 rendering engine, HTML 5 support, Silverlight, and gestures. A release date is not yet known, but a set of features like that will go a long way toward cutting into Android and iOS’ ever increasing market share.

Apple starts selling an Apple Store for your home

by Mario Armstrong

This is huge news coming from Apple. Steve Jobs is soooo smart on this one. They know that the Apple cult , I mean fans will drool all over this new product. Apple is selling its own version of the Apple store so you can have a replica of it in your own home (freakin’ “genius bar” idea)! I mean it’s down-right brilliant for them to diversify their product line beyond electronics and start developing products that further enable the cult I mean the fans to further spew the Apple gospel. This will make a great conversation starter among your Windows friends for sure.

My favorite part of this new toy is the Optional Line Pack you can buy to create that “wait-in-line frenzy”. Imagine playing with this at home you could line up people for all sorts of announcements you can make up yourself, like Apple is launching a new gaming system or whatever your imagination can drum up – just think of all the hours you can spend as you “imagine shop” in your very own Apple store. You can even play with your imagination at the “Apple Genius Bar”! You can increase your IQ or feel like a complete idiot depending on the questions you pose or you could choose to be an impatient customer or be an obnoxious Genius rep – it’s totally up to you with the new Apple Store PlayMobil.

Available now for $29 and is great for ages 4-84

Let me know in the comments how you would use it in your home! Can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!

By the way this is an April Fools joke in case u missed it :-)

Vimeo for iPhone

by Justin Alcon

Yesterday, Vimeo announced the launch of their official iPhone app. Preliminary tests indicate that it’s not shabby, and its especially impressive considering that this release is the first iteration of this product.  The app is all things video; watching, recording, editing and even delivering video to Vimeo’s site. Although the app isn’t perfect, Vimeo for iPhone is a solid offering.

The Vimeo for iPhone app is portrait-oriented; unless you’re shooting or viewing video, it wants to be vertical. When I first logged into the app, the default category presented is ‘My Stuff’, which is essentially a list of videos made by folks that I follow on Vimeo.  Across the top of the screen we find buttons allowing me to quickly check my video inbox (default view), buttons for things that I like and other buttons for things I’ve saved to watch later.  Across the bottom of the screen, there are additional buttons for the other functions of the app including options to “like” your own videos/recordings, browsing and account maintenance features. The videos you’ve uploaded to Vimeo can be viewed as a  list or as thumbnails, and sorted by date or by number of views. The search function returns real-time results, which is a search feature that we’ve all come to know and love.

Video-sharing is key to any modern social marketing campaign, and the Vimeo community is one of the most vibrant on the modern web.  If you make or share online video for your business, or even just for fun, this app is a must-have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7kUx0sbug0

The E-Reader Explosion: Choosing the Right E-Reader

by Shy Mukerjee

Mario Armstrong appeared on the TODAY show this morning to help you decide which E-Reader is right for you. Mario takes a look at the Amazon Kindle, the Sony E-Reader, The Barnes and Noble Nook Color, and the Pandigital Novel Color Multimedia E-Reader. Take a look at the video below!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rumor: Google Nexus Tablet

by Justin Alcon

According to the Russian mobile blog Mobile Review (you’ll need to switch to English if you’d like to read the blog, unless you’re fluent in Russian), LG has been tapped to produce the Google Nexus tablet for the Mountain View-based Internet giant. Details are scarce (and of course unconfirmed), but according to the site the tablet will be used by  Google as base for the development and testing of Honeycomb (Android 3.0), their latest tablet-optimized operating system. This new device should be ready in “mid-summer or early autumn.”

Definitely keep in mind that this device could just be an engineering prototype to be used by Google internally for Android tablet development and wouldn’t necessarily lead to a consumer-facing product. However, the idea of Google producing a tablet that stacks up to iPad 2 in the same way that their Nexus S phone challenged iPhone 4 is an idea that will create a lot of buzz among tech junkies and Android fanboys.  If it really happens, it could have a big impact on the future of tablet integration into your business.  The fact that Google has delayed distribution of Honeycomb source code to outside developers definitely lends credibility to this rumor, so I’m not willing to dismiss this with a das vadanya quite yet.

Android to Launch In-App Purchasing

by Justin Alcon

Yesterday on the Android developer blog, Google announced that it will launch in-app billing for the Android Market next week. In-app billing allows Android users to purchase more content directly from within an app — a near identical feature to Apple’s somewhat controversial yet similar scheme. In the announcement, Google also said that developers can begin testing this feature immediately by  simply uploading their apps to the Developer Console. In the Developer Console, developers can create catalogs of in-app purchases, set prices and test the transaction process.

The implications of this are huge as far as businesses are concerned.  Android is by far the fastest growing platform, and while most iOS apps are paid apps, most apps on Android are free of charge.  In-app purchases perfectly support the freemium model for business.  The freemium model is popular because it allows consumers to interact with your product with no bar to entry, and yet offers your company a revenue stream if your product impresses the user.  I’m confident that there will be more revenue from in-app purchases than there will be from app sales at the end of the day.  So, revisit your company’s mobile apps and you might find that a river of revenue runs through an already existing product.

A Social Learning Network

by Song

What if you could customize a college degree by combining world class courses from different universities affordably? Marco Masoni sees that in the future of education. He’s a lawyer, writer, educator, and cofounder of Einztein which curates videos and courses from institutions as diverse as Stanford and The British Museum.

air date: February 15, 2011

Vidyo

by Justin Alcon

Videoconferencing technology company Vidyo is enhancing its platform with support for Apple’s new iPad 2, Motorola’s XOOM tablet and Atrix smartphone/netbook. The platform uses the company’s VidyoTechnology SDK, which is open to third parties and enables high-def videoconferencing on mobile devices.

With Vidyo, customers can join videoconferences from multiple locations using personal devices varying from mobile phones to tablets to room systems, using apps built by Vidyo or its partners.  This last part is key; releasing a conferencing API is much more involved than releasing a single product.  By doing this, Vidyo is releasing a platform on which developers can customize to the video conferencing needs of individual businesses in a cost-effective way.

Vidyo CEO Ofer Shapiro was quoted as saying that the faster CPU of the iPad 2 and its two cameras make it a platform that “begs for HD multipoint video communication and collaboration”.  The company claims it was able to use its own SDK to make the iPad 2 into an HD videoconference device within hours of the tablet’s release. Of course, HD only applies to the video that you see on your iPad, but thats a limitation of the iPad’s front facing camera, not a limitation of the conferencing platform.

The Vidyo platform previously supported the first-gen iPad, iPhone 4, iPod, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S smartphone, Google’s Nexus S and multiple other Android devices.  So, adding these new heavy hitters to the lineup was a logical next step.

Ubiquitous mobile HD video conferencing for your business is just around the corner.  Futuristic, isn’t it?